A relatively large number of fabrics and garments have been developed for providing protection against insect bites. Many of these garments, such as garments designed for beekeepers are specialized in nature, and many are heavy and cumbersome or otherwise limit movement or make movement awkward when worn. Such garments can also be uncomfortable to wear in hot weather or can feel overly confining or even suffocating because of the lack of breathability of the garment fabric. Still others are of limited effectiveness in providing protection real against insect bites and stings.
Some patents of potential interest in this field, or otherwise of possible related interest, include the following: U.S. Pat. and Publication No. U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,850 to Shannon; 2002/0162161 to Zeiler; U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,594 to Shannon; U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,635 to Lemoine; U.S. Pat. No. 2,344,811 to Gill; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,927 to Weldon.
Briefly considering the foregoing, the Shannon patent discloses a garment for protection against insects comprising an outer layer of mesh material for preventing the passage of insects and an inner layer of material having a series of arches. Each arch of the series of arches has a height greater than or equal to approximately 1/16 of an inch so that the arches elevate the outer layer from the skin surface of the wearer and thus insects cannot sting or bite the wearer.
The Zeiler patent application publication discloses an insect barrier garment including a lower body, an upper body, and a hood formed of a textile material all of which inhibit the ability of insects to sting a wearer. The textile material of the garment comprises a base fabric and a cover fabric separated by a spacer layer. The base and cover fabric are open to facilitate breathability. The spacer layer separates the base fabric from the cover fabric by a sufficient distance to inhibit insects from probing through the textile to reach the wearer.
The Shannon patent discloses a garment comprising inner and outer layers of fabric. The outer layer of fabric is constructed so as to prevent passage of mosquitoes and other insects. The inner layer of fabric is a coarse mesh fabric with relatively large openings therein and is many times thicker than the thickness of the outer layer of fabric so as to serve as a spacer layer. This layer spaces the skin of the wearer of the garment at a distance from the outer surface of the garment such that mosquitoes cannot reach the skin of the wearer so as to bite the wearer.
The Lemoine patent discloses a beekeeper's suit including an outside layer comprising a netting of flexible material having openings therein, an inside layer which is similar to the outside layer in structure and an intermediate layer which is sandwiched between the outside and the inside layer. The intermediate layer is formed from a flexible porous cellular plastic material.
The Gill patent discloses an insect repelling fabric including a supporting web structure comprising intersecting rubber strips. Overlying the supporting web structure is a fabric netting formed of cotton.
The Weldon patent, which also does not relate to resisting insect bites, discloses a garment for facilitating the evaporative cooling of the epidermis of a user while protecting the epidermis from sunlight. The garment includes two co-extensive layers of material each having openings formed therein. The layers slide over one other to move openings in one layer partially out of registration with openings in another layer so that sunlight is prevented from penetrating the garment on a continuous basis. The openings in the garment are arranged such that at any given time some of the openings of the two layers are in partial registration and thus facilitate the flow of air through the garment to assist in the evaporative cooling of the epidermis of a user.
Other patents and published applications disclosing insect repelling garments include 2003/0166372 to Howard; 2002/0124293 to Zeiler; 2002/0137410 to Porter et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,797 to Tisdale.